Emera (TSE:EMA) Sets New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Emera Incorporated (TSE:EMA) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as C$74.82 and last traded at C$74.77, with a volume of 209976 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$73.45.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on EMA shares. National Bank Financial boosted their price target on Emera from C$69.00 to C$75.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of Emera from C$74.00 to C$75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Emera from C$74.50 to C$75.25 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Desjardins boosted their target price on shares of Emera from C$69.00 to C$70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Emera from C$72.00 to C$74.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Emera has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$74.39.

Emera Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of C$22.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.84, a P/E/G ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a fifty day moving average price of C$72.20 and a 200 day moving average price of C$70.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 168.83, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Emera (TSE:EMA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported C$1.37 earnings per share for the quarter. Emera had a return on equity of 7.90% and a net margin of 13.20%.The company had revenue of C$2.81 billion for the quarter. On average, equities analysts expect that Emera Incorporated will post 3.1991627 EPS for the current year.

Emera Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.7325 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 1st. This represents a $2.93 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Emera’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Emera

In other news, insider Richard Janega sold 16,500 shares of Emera stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$74.25, for a total transaction of C$1,225,125.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 19,642 shares in the company, valued at C$1,458,418.50. This trade represents a 45.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

Emera Company Profile

Emera (TSX/NYSE: EMA) is a leading North American provider of energy services headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with investments in regulated electric and natural gas utilities, and related businesses and assets. The Emera family of companies delivers safe, reliable energy to approximately 2.7 million customers in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Our team of 7,800 employees is committed to our purpose of energizing modern life and delivering a cleaner energy future for all. Emera’s common and preferred shares are listed and trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange and its common shares are listed and trade on the New York Stock Exchange.